


Words

by Perrault



Category: Sicario (2015)
Genre: in case you forgot these people cuss a LOT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-04-27 03:17:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5031712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perrault/pseuds/Perrault
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt shows up with news.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Words

**Author's Note:**

> Same deal as the last one. Written quickly, no real polishing. Just cranking it out and throwing it up here.

Kate balances awkwardly as she reaches for the last bag of groceries sitting on her backseat. She curses when she sees that the carton of eggs has come slightly apart, and its precious cargo sits poised to roll freely to certain death. She snags the bag’s plastic handle and tugs it gently towards her, the eggs’ shells clacking gently against each other. She kicks the door shut and walks toward her apartment building, muttering to herself about changing supermarkets, because really, this happens _every fucking time_.

She hears a low whistle and draws up short. There’s a chuckle, and as she turns in its direction, her eyes find Matt Graver lounging against the chipped corner of the building.

“Hey there, Katie-girl.”

Graver’s smile is wicked, his teeth slightly yellower than they were two years ago. He pushes himself off the wall, his hands stuck in his jeans pockets.

“Got something for ya,” he says, swaggering over to her. Kate glances around the parking lot and catches sight of a black SUV, its tinted windows winking snidely at her in the midday sun. Graver follows her gaze and smiles still more broadly.

“Whatever it is, I don’t want it,” she says, and she isn’t angry, doesn’t shout, she just says it, tired sounding, and already resigned.

Graver rolls his eyes. “Oh come on, Kate, you’re not seriously still bent out of shape about _that_.”

“I said no, Graver.” It comes out sounding snappish, and she winces, not wanting to give the man the satisfaction of having gotten under her skin again in such a short span of time.

Graver shrugs. “Fuck, sorry. Just thought it would be something you’d find useful. I’ll let you figure this shit out on your own then.”

He starts to amble away, whistling ‘O Canada.’ Kate dithers for a moment, before placing her groceries carefully on the ground and jogging lightly after him.

“Wait,” she calls, and curses herself internally when Graver immediately spins around, his expression one of deliberately over exaggerated disinterest.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?”

“What is it? And don’t give me some cagey cloak and dagger bullshit, tell me the truth this time.”

Graver huffs out a laugh. “You goddamn locals. No manners at all.” He pops the gum in his mouth.

“Right. Town’s drying up. Cartel routes are changing. You’re looking at a mass asshole exodus within the next two to three weeks. Meaning there’s going to be a lot of loose ends what need tying up.” He looks at her deliberately. “You catch my drift?”

Kate nods. “Should I be worried?”

“For yourself? Nah, I don’t think so. If they haven’t got you by now, you should be fine.” He looks her over. “You look good. You wearing make up?”

She stares at him.

He sighs. “Fuck, Kate, come on, I did you a favor. I brought you in on one of the most significant covert ops in the past decade. People have sucked my dick over a hell of a lot less.” He gestures vaguely at the empty parking lot. “I’m your fairy fucking godmother.”

He scrubs his hand over his face, turning in a small circle. “It’s a shame you acted so goddamn stupid in the tunnel. You’re a good agent. But you needed breaking in. From what I’ve heard you bounced back pretty good. Got you working cases now, yeah? Closed more in the past year and a half than the bureau here has in a decade. That’s good, that’s good.”

Kate barks a laugh. “What happened to ‘move to a small town, this is a land of wolves now’?”

Graver looks at her, his eyebrows raised questioningly. Kate huffs, putting her hands on her hips. “That’s what Alejandro hit me with after holding a gun to my head and forcing me to sign off on your fucking op.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No.”

Graver stares at her, and then groans in what sounds like mock exasperation. “Goddamn Latinos, fucking drama queens, all of them. I was just gonna forge your signature, then get your boss to shut you the fuck up with a threat to fire you. Figured that would work just as well. But then Alejandro showed up with your signature, I guessed he’d just sweet talked you into it—”

He giggles. “Jesus Christ, he said that? ‘Go to a small town?’ Oh what a fucking waste that would have been.”

“Where is he now?”

“Alejandro? He’s in Cartagena. No, Cancun. No, Panama. I don’t know. Who the fuck cares?”

“You know.”

Graver’s expression is suddenly serious. He steps into her space, crowding her against a parked silver Nissan. “Listen to me. Do not go looking for him. Don’t poke your nose into places where it doesn’t belong, or it’s gonna get bit the fuck off. Got me?”

Kate says nothing, just meets his gaze, squarely, and without flinching.

He cocks his head at her. “What’s your deal, Kate? Daddy issues? Nah, you like the rules a bit too much for that. Or at least you did. What’s going on inside your head?”

“Seven different ways to kill you.”

Graver’s face stretches with the force of his grin. “I knew I liked you.”

In a swift, smooth motion, he puts his hand around her neck, his thumb hard against her carotid artery. Kate thinks of reaching for her service weapon but decides against it. Graver’s eyes are cold.

“But you see, for your seven, I only need one. This is what you didn’t understand, Kate. Per capita, the Bureau’s agents outnumber the Company’s, that’s true. As far as gross numbers go, you’ve got me beat. But as far as individual strength, what I’m willing to do, opposed to what you believe you are allowed to do, as far as the utilization of force is concerned, I beat you every time. You only ever think about doing something.” 

He flexes his hand, and for a moment, Kate sees stars. Then his hand is gone, and he’s ten feet away, smirking at her. “I’m glad you didn’t move to a small town. The idea of you in a little po-dunk style police cruiser is just so…depressing.”

He turns away and walks in the direction of the SUV. He calls over his shoulder, “Keep it up, Kate. In six months I’ll be sending you a plane ticket to D.C.”

“Graver!”

He turns around. Kate has her service weapon out and trained on him. Graver looks at her, bemused. “You’re gonna shoot me? Seems like a bit of an overreaction.”

Kate’s stance relaxes, and she re-holsters her weapon, with a nonchalant cock of her hip. “No. I just wanted to remind you that I know how.”

Graver nods, thoughtfully, then looks at her. “Six months,” he pauses. “Maybe less.”

He jogs over to the SUV. The passenger door swings open and he swings himself inside with the ease of a man several years his junior. The door slams shut, and as the car turns away, Graver rolls down his window and flashes Kate a peace sign, like a rockstar leaving a blowout concert.

Kate watches the car until it’s out of sight, before she walks back over to her groceries, picking them up gingerly so as not to disturb the eggs. There is a residual tightness in her throat, but she resists the urge to touch where Graver had wrapped his hand around her neck. It would fade.

 

In the SUV, Graver pops his gum. “ ‘Move to a small town, Kate. This is a land of wolves now, Kate.’” He says, in a mockingly strong accent. He glances at the man’s reflection in the rearview mirror. “You’ve got a way with words, there, _cabron_.”

Alejandro looks away. “I didn’t think she’d be able to take it.”

Graver snorts. “Well she sure showed you.”

Alejandro nods. "Showed you too," he says. 

Graver huffs, jerking irritably at his seatbelt. He looks over at the man in the driver’s seat, black sunglasses shielding his eyes.

“Get us to the airfield, Shades. I haven’t got all fucking day.”


End file.
